Comey Told the Senate the NSB Head Was in Those Conversations. Feinstein Named Ghattas.

On June 8, 2017, former FBI Director James B. Comey testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The printed hearing record (S. Hrg. 115-99) has Comey describing the senior leadership group with whom he discussed Trump encounters, including “the deputy director, my chief of staff, the general counsel, the deputy director’s chief counsel,” and “in a number of circumstances the number three in the FBI, and a few of the conversations included the head of the National Security Branch.” Later, answering Senator Rubio: “more often than not the number three person at the FBI, who is the associate deputy Director, and then quite often the head of the National Security Branch.” The printed transcript in that exchange uses the title, not the surname.

On June 9, 2017, Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein wrote Chairman Chuck Grassley recommending an obstruction inquiry. The official committee release prints her letter. It says Comey “testified that he spoke to a number of individuals about this conversation shortly after it happened. According to his oral testimony, this included,” and then lists: Deputy Director Andrew McCabe; Chief of Staff Jim Rybicki; General Counsel James Baker; Associate Deputy Director David Bowditch (the letter’s spelling); and “National Security Branch (FBI), Carl Ghattas.” Feinstein asked the committee to hear from “the witnesses identified by Mr. Comey during the June 8 hearing.”

The Associated Press, reporting the later DOJ refusal to produce Ghattas and Rybicki, wrote: “Comey has said those men were among the FBI officials with whom he shared concerns about Trump’s behavior toward him, in the weeks before he was fired.” That is AP’s attribution. This page does not invent a Comey sentence that is not in the printed transcript.

The Washington Free Beacon, August 3, 2017, recapping a Vox report that cited anonymous senior law-enforcement officials, listed Ghattas among officials Andrew McCabe reportedly flagged as possible witnesses on obstruction. That is labeled reporting of anonymous sources. It is not a court finding and not a Comey quote.

Comey’s written Statement for the Record for that hearing does not name Ghattas. Being told about an encounter is not a finding that Ghattas opened Crossfire Hurricane or committed a crime.